John Eckels, Senior Director of Administration and Finance from Northern Air Cargo says, “We’re currently drowning in paper! When a purchase invoice arrives into the accounts department, it’s coded and then manually passed to two different managers for approval. These managers could be located in any of our three head office buildings. Once approved, the invoice is passed back to accounts and paid. The paper invoice is stored in an onsite filing cabinet and after two years, it’s stored in an offsite archiving facility. With thousands of purchase invoices being processed in this way every month, the time, cost and storage implications are staggering!”

NAC, which flies to 21 scheduled locations within rural Alaska, is implementing Version One’s electronic document storage, automated document delivery and form production solutions. With these solutions in place, NAC will replace its paper-based purchase invoice processes with more efficient automated procedures. All purchase invoices will be scanned and automatically stored in an electronic archive before being destroyed. By drilling down through CedarOpenAccounts or by using the web browser, managers will be able to access the archive and both approve and query the imaged invoices directly from their PC screens, within a matter of seconds!

Eckels says, “Version One’s technology will streamline purchase invoice processing, freeing-up time so that staff can do more productive jobs. Staff will also be able to query purchase invoices and respond to suppliers more efficiently, significantly improving relationships.”

In time, NAC will use Version One’s technology for storing other incoming documents such as credit notes. The technology will also be utilized for creating, electronically delivering and storing outgoing documents such as sales invoices and statements as well as a range of non-financial documents such as customer contracts and supplier correspondence.

Brian Moran, CedarOpenAccounts’ General Manager, North America says, “The plan is to roll-out Version One’s technology beyond just NAC’s finance department. It has the flexibility and scalability to be used for electronically storing, creating and delivering documents across the entire business, enabling NAC to further improve organization-wide efficiency and enjoy a rapid return-on-investment.”

Eckels adds, “By storing all business documents in the electronic archive and electronically producing and delivering all our outgoing documents, the cost savings will be phenomenal! The offsite archive will become redundant, saving us $24,000 each year and we’ll also cut costs through the elimination of pre-printed stationery. Getting sales invoices, statements and contracts to customers more quickly and being able to respond to customer queries in a timelier manner, will also improve cash flow and more importantly, our customer relationships.”